{"id":769,"date":"2010-10-07T05:08:47","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T05:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/?p=769"},"modified":"2019-01-19T23:26:43","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T23:26:43","slug":"proactive-vs-reactive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/proactive-vs-reactive\/","title":{"rendered":"Proactive vs. Reactive"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many approaches to strength and conditioning and all have them have probably worked at one point in time, in some capacity, with some person (or group of people).<\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks I have had a number of questions regarding the assessment process for training clients.\u00a0 Many in the profession\u00a0are currently very focused on assessment and trying to make sense of all the information getting passed around on various internet forums, websites, and seminars.\u00a0 Others are not\u00a0\u201cbuying it\u201d\u00a0<\/em>and would rather just allow people to train and pay no attention to screening their clients prior to beginning a strength and conditioning program (I do however\u00a0think many of those in the\u00a0\u201cnot buying it\u201d\u00a0<\/em>circle do use some form of assessment, but are just arguing to argue or would rather nit-pick semantics).<\/p>\n

I was recently asked\u00a0\u201cWhy bother with an assessment?\u00a0 Every workout is an assessment.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t that tell you all you need to know?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll start by saying I feel this\u00a0is a valid statement and I cannot disagree, every workout really is an assessment.\u00a0 However, with regard to having a scripted\u00a0assessment prior to initiating training, my stance is that I would rather be\u00a0proactive \u00a0<\/strong>than\u00a0reactive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The screen prior to training offers a few key benefits:<\/p>\n

    \n
      \n
    1. Pain –\u00a0<\/strong>An assessment, performed with nothing more than body weight,\u00a0looks at basic movement patterns and allows\u00a0us to get a feeling for whether or not the individual has pain.\u00a0 Often times clients\/athletes will forget to tell you about a surgery, an injury (previous or recent), or something that has been nagging them for the past few weeks.\u00a0 Once you get them moving, it tends to jog their memory and they start to mention things that they may have otherwise not told you.\u00a0 Additionally, if for whatever reason the individual has\u00a0 pain when performing any of the assessment movements that is a big red flag as far as bringing that painful pattern to a (loaded) training environment.<\/li>\n
    2. Starting point \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Not everyone will have the same abilities, and a proper assessment helps to determine what the appropriate starting point, with regard to exercise, is for each person.\u00a0 If we were to just go in and start training without an assessment we are making a big assumption that back squats, or deadlifts, or power cleans, will be okay for everyone.\u00a0 Some clients\/athletes may have restrictions in mobility or asymmetrical movement that will prevent competent movement in those lifts and potentially make performing them an accident waiting to happen.<\/li>\n
    3. Progress \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>If the client\/athlete does have something that can be improved upon (IE, movement capacity is lower than desired), the only way to know if they are ready for progression is to re-test the pattern(s) that were problematic to assess whether or not our current exercise program is\u00a0\u201cgetting the job done\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>If changes are less than desired, we may need to make changes to the program and explore a different path to make sure we get what we want.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n

      The main reason that I have an assessment process is that I don\u2019t want to let things slide by (if I can help it) and have a setback in training.\u00a0\u00a0The argument that\u00a0\u201cthe body is smarter than we give it credit for and if we just move it will know what do to\u201d,\u00a0<\/em>doesn\u2019t sit well with me.\u00a0 \u00a0The body is smarter than we give it credit for and can find ways to work around our limitations and perform the movement that we are asking it to perform, even if it does so in a less than optimal way.<\/p>\n

      I\u2019d rather be\u00a0proactive<\/strong>\u00a0and look at things from the get-go than bereactive<\/strong>\u00a0and look at those same things only when something goes wrong.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      There are many approaches to strength and conditioning and all have them have probably worked at one point in time, in some capacity, with some person (or group of people). Over the past few weeks I have had a number of questions regarding the assessment process for training clients.\u00a0 Many in the profession\u00a0are currently very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-strength-and-conditioning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":770,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions\/770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}